In the process of decorating glass or ceramic substrates with colored films, resinates and/or lusters may be used. Resinates are metal salts (soaps) of organic acids dissolved in an appropriate solvent mixture, such as an essential oil (e.g., pine oil, rose oil, clove oil, jasmine oil, etc.) mixed with xylene, toluene and/or other hydrocarbons. Lusters are mixtures of resinates blended to produce a given colored film. Resinates and/or lusters are prepared on the substrate and the coated substrate fired in an oven. The organic material decomposes to products which readily evaporate at the firing temperatures, while the inorganic material, in the resinates and/or lusters, adheres to the substrate surface as a thin colored film. Certain metal resinates present in lusters do not directly contribute to color formation, but their presence is necessary for flux formation, for colloidal dispersion, and for improved properties of the final films. Bismuth salts (resinates) are of interest because they can be blended with other salts to give either blue or green lusters.
Presently, there are numerous efforts being made to develop a "black beauty" type colored television cathode ray tube. A black beauty type faceplate consists of a dot pattern of filters arranged in such a manner that in front of each phosphor dot, there is a filter which transmits the light emitted from the phosphor and absorbs all other wavelengths of light. Thus, in front of a blue emitting phosphor dot, there will be a blue colored filter. One of the most convenient ways of preparing a faceplate with tri-dot filters is by using lusters. In certain attempts to prepare black beauty type faceplates, commercially available lusters were used. It was found, however, that the spectral characteristics of the filters thus prepared were not optimal for the intended use. To compensate for this deficiency, it was believed necessary to prepare the individual metal salts, test them to obtain their spectra, and then mix them in various proportions to thereby provide lusters having better spectral characteristics. Early attempts to prepare satisfactory bismuth salts were unsuccessful, since even if the salt was formed, it was an insoluble precipitate, soluble at the most to about 5.8 percent, which is considerably less than the 20 percent solubility present in the commercially available resinate and which is needed for the use contemplated, by the present invention, in luster mixtures.